Lonzo Ball named NBA Summer League MVP

Although there’s one game left in the Las Vegas Summer League, the choice for MVP was simple

Lonzo Ball is not playing in the Summer League Championship game against the Portland Trail Blazers, but his impact in Las Vegas was tremendous. The Los Angeles Lakers’ No. 2 overall pick was named MVP of the summer circuit Monday night.

Ball is suffering from a mild calf strain in his right leg. The Lakers are being cautious to avoid the risk of a more serious injury. Despite his injury, Ball’s play proved that the organization has found the captain of their young core.

The point guard averaged 16.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 9.3 assists in six games. He also tallied two triple-doubles, including the first in Las Vegas since 2008. Ball caught the eye of viewers everywhere with his long outlet passes and unique ability to find his teammates for an open shot.

Aside from his play, Ball’s shoe selection was a daily topic in the basketball world. In his first two games, he opted to wear his signature Big Baller Brand “ZO2,” in which he averaged 8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 8 assists.

In his third game, Ball wore the Nike Kobe AD and had his best game of the summer by scoring 36 points, grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out 11 assists. He explained after the game that his brand lets him to wear any shoe that the NBA will allow.

He selected Adidas’ signature James Harden shoe against the Cleveland Cavaliers and recorded a triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.

Ball couldn’t leave Under Armor out. In his 5th game, he wore the Curry 4 Finals PE and recorded a stat line of 14 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.

In his final game he wore the Jordan XXXI. Despite leaving in the third quarter, Ball managed to score 16 points and dish out 10 assists with no turnovers.

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When asked by ESPN’s Cassidy Hubarth if his intentions were to start a bidding war for his feet, he replied, “Something like that.”

Even though he struggled to find his shot quite often, the future leader of the Lakers found other ways to impact the game.

With the era of the “pass-first” point guard long gone, Ball could be the beginning of the resurrection of an almost extinct style of play.